Scott Friedlander and Joe Sullivan met as freshmen on the Deerfield boys cross country team in 2004, and a friendship blossomed during their long training runs in high school.

"We talked to each other and we tried to outwork each other," said Friedlander, a Deerfield resident. "We got very, very close on those long runs. When you do that together you form a connection."

While they are no longer teammates, a friendly competition still exists between Friedlander and Sullivan.

Friedlander is in his second year as the Warriors boys cross country coach. After serving as Friedlander's assistant last year, Sullivan is now the boys cross country coach at Mather.

Their teams met for the first time at the Whitney Young Invitational on Sept. 23. Deerfield finished first and Mather took second. But there were no hard feelings. Friedlander said that not only were the coaches friendly, but their athletes were too.

"The whole thing was really amazing," Friedlander said. "It was really cool to see our kids and the Mather kids together. They were super friendly to each other. We already have more dates circled on the calendar."

They will see each other at the Class 2A Fenton Regional on Oct. 21. Friedlander said he believes both teams have a realistic chance to advance to state, so the U-High Sectional on Oct. 28 and the state meet on Nov. 4 in Peoria are other possible meetings.

After graduating from high school, Friedlander went to Brown and Sullivan attended the University of Chicago. Friedlander ran for the Bears for 2 1/2 years, while Sullivan ran for the Maroons for one year. They graduated in 2012 and both went to work in the corporate world.

After working for two years in Boston, Friedlander said he returned to the Chicago area in 2014 and settled in Deerfield. He reconnected with the Warriors cross country and track programs and became a coach. He also renewed his friendship with Sullivan.

"When I first took the job as head coach I hired Joe (Sullivan) as my assistant," Friedlander said. "He was the most natural coach ever."

One person who was not surprised to see both Sullivan and Friedlander become coaches is Jeremy Kauffman. He coached the Deerfield track and cross country teams for 17 years before he retired from coaching in 2014. He remains a social studies teacher at Deerfield.

"They both have so much passion for running," Kauffman said. "It's awesome to see them both coaching."

The relationship between the programs goes beyond friendly competition.

Friedlander, who works at Sg2 analyzing big data for the healthcare industry, said Deerfield has ample resources for its athletic programs, but the same is not true for Mather, which is part of the Chicago Public Schools system.

Sullivan, an Evanston resident who declined to be interviewed for the story, started a GoFundMe.com page for his team to raise money for things like training shoes, spikes, watches and uniforms.

When Friedlander learned of the fundraising web page, he shared it with the Warriors running community and they responded. Friedlander said that as of Saturday nearly half of the $4,877 raised came from the Deerfield running community.